This was probably one of the toughest backpacking trips we ever made. Since it was in the southern part of the desert which is very dry compared to the northern part with its abundant springs we needed to carry all of our water. Our destination was Goat trestle in Carrizo Gorge of the Anza Borrego desert State Park. We had heard many claims about the trestle from it being "the largest curved wooden trestle in the world" to “the largest in the United States". I don't know which if any are true, but what I can tell you is it's huge. At 750 feet long and 200 feet tall it is worth every drop of sweat it took to get there.

We made this trip in the late 70's when the line was still operational. Several years later much of the track was damaged by a tropical storm and the line was deactivated. We arrived at our fist smaller trestle early in the morning and immediately took off all our gear and started exploring. We crawled under one of the trestles to find some shade and cool off a bit when we started to hear this very faint rumbling. The noise kept getting louder and louder and then as the ground started to vibrate we realized it was a train and came flying out from under the trestle just in time to see a train thundering out of the tunnel about 100 yards from where we had been. All I can say is it's a good thing I was 18 and in very good health or I am sure I would have had a heart attack.

The only downside to the whole adventure was being ticketed by the Sheriff. As we were exploring and taking pictures one day a little gas handcar came cruising down the track. We walked up to the track as he started to slow down and as he stopped a county Sheriff stepped off the back and proceeded to write both of us tickets for trespassing on SDA&E railroad property. Several weeks later we appeared in front of the Judge in the town of Boulevard. We were sentenced to 90 days in jail and a $500.00 fine which he then suspended and placed us on one year’s probation.

I have always had a sweet tooth and on our way into town we saw this little place called the "Candy Kitchen". We didn't have time to stop then but on our way out of town I had to have my sugar. As we walked inside we were confronted by a delectable array of homemade sweets of which the sweetest looking one was standing behind the counter asking if she could help us. I said "yes" and as I approached the counter my focus suddenly switched from this beautiful young lady to her name tag. There on that tag pinned to her chest was the last name of the man we had only moments before stood in front off for punishment. She was far too pretty and the opportunity much too great for one of us not to leave there without her phone number. So after tasting many samples and making our purchases we returned to the car and discussed our options.

I guess we must have been wise for our age or maybe it was the fact that we didn’t want her father to find out and re-consider the sentence, but we decided to enjoy our freedom and our sweats, consider it a lesson learned and head back home.

An abandoned water stop on the valley side of the gorge.

Ahh, to be young and foolish again. Never did find out what was in the tank.

We found several of these "shacks" in the area.

This one was made out of old blasting powder cans filled with sand and stacked like bricks.

One of the many tunnels on our way up the gorge.

All the trestles we explored had this walkway under the tracks all the way across the trestle.

That's me hanging out and looking at the trestle in the background. Still a long ways to go.

Here's a little closer view courtesy of my telephoto lens.

A couple of casualties.

One of the trestle's security gaurds.